So,
I've been up to many things this year. I'll quickly start with my spring backpacking trip to the Los Padres National Forest. Dylan and I picked a really remote part of the Los Padres near the California Condor preserve to do a 3 night ~54 mile loop trip. The Los Padres is enormous, ranging from Monterey all the way south to Lake Piru and Ojai. It is nearly 5000sq/m large. It incorporates a lot of California historical settlements and has huge swaths of relatively untouched natural California Chaparral. The area we went to is called the Sisqouc River and is listed as a Wild and Scenic River. One of 280 in the country. This means it is preserved in it's natural state. Combine that with the USFS continually having it's budget cut since its heyday in the 1950s and 60s and what we were in for was a remote and wild experience.
The map and a link in case you're interested.
We started off at the small mostly unused Nira campground on the hottest day of the year so far (this was back in May 2017) We had 8 miles of walking to do along a river valley with good trail and blazing heat with little shade. We took breaks in any shade we could find and tried our best to stay hydrated. We found a great camp at the Manzana narrows next to a water source and with a 50 year old pit toilet covered in ticks and bees.
Day 2 (5/23/17) was even hotter and more exposed. After leaving Manzana narrows things were absolutely beautiful with exposed white cliffs and trickling creeks.
We stopped at an old unused camp called White ledge and refilled our water bottles.
After that point the trail became incredibly overgrown at times disappearing in the overgrowth. It seemed like we were the first people to have been here that year. We made it to the South fork Ranger station which was in tact and had a nice campground and stopped for more water, shade and lunch. My trusty backpack thermometer was reading 98F in the shade at noon. Dylan was getting really overheated so we soaked in the Sisquoc for a couple hours in the peak afternoon heat.
South Fork Ranger Station was well kept with trail access from a different trail that seemed more well traveled.
A King snake that wouldn't leave us alone at lunch.
The Sisqouc. Just deep enough in places for a good soak.
Around 2:30pm we decided that we should get a move on. From here on out the maps showed the trail riding up the hillsides and banks lining the Sisqouc and following it downstream to a bunch of old camps and homestead sites. Lets just say that where there was any trail at all it was sketchy.
The trail here was loose shale and at parts it was way steeper than this. We were both worried about one slip.
Eventually the trail just went into the river. We searched for a while trying to find where it came back out of the river but it never really did. This meant we were just river walking with wet feet for most of the rest of the day but at least it helped keep us cool.
We got to a camp called Sycamore that was completely overgrown with grasses and had another 50 year old pit toilet. This time with all of the walls collapsed. Dylan wouldn't eat and spent the evening soaking in the river some more. He was really not functioning well in the heat. That night after the sun went down the whole camp came alive with rustling noises. We were sure our site was being taken over by raccoons. We woke up and explored with headlamps and found the ground alive with burrowing toads who wake up and move around at night. There were tons of them. It was still 80 degrees and Dylan was still not feeling well. It was a rough mostly sleepless night.
The next morning Dylan choked down some bars and told me he had the shakes and sweats all night. I was worried he might have mild heat stroke. The morning temps were nice and the quickest way home was forward to we set out.
There had been a Mormon settlement in this valley in the late 1800s. Remnants were left.
Nice temps a bit of cloud cover and a breeze made for much better hiking.
Wellmans Well. Another homestead site.
Once again there was very little trail so it was mostly walking along the riverbed. Often actually in the river.
By 10am we had gone 6 miles of slow river walking and found the first camp listed on the map. It was overgrown and mostly non existent. As we kept walking camp after camp passed and each one was worse than the last. Some couldn't even be found. After 10 miles we reached a point where the map said the trial went up a hillside. We were both tired of walking with wet sand filled heavy shoes so we tried to find it. We scrambled up a hill and set out in the direction of the "trail". It disappeared again. We searched for half an hour and it was nowhere to be found. We got to a canyon with no way across and decided to turn back. We descended a steep hill back into the river. Passed a few more spots listed as camps on the map that simply weren't there and kept walking. We passed lots of bear scat, 2 people (the only 2 people we saw the whole trip), and lots more ruins. After 25.68 miles we arrived at Manzana Schoolhouse. A great, obviously used camp with an old schoolhouse still standing from the late 1800s. (interesting history https://yankeebarbareno.com/2012/02/29/manzana-creek-schoolhouse-1895/)
We made camp, enjoyed the sunset, picked foxtails out of our shoes and I ate a great well deserved meal and chocolate bar.
The night was cool. The toads were still noisy but we slept better. The next morning was cloudy and cool with a bit of drizzle. We explored the schoolhouse and set out the 8 miles back to the car. The last day was beautiful and having a trail made the walking easy after what we'd been through.
Horned lizard.
Shade, trail, creek! Perfect hiking!
Davey Brown Cabin another California historical site.
Still with the wet feet.
After one creek crossing we stopped in our tracks upon seeing this. Wet bear tracks. It couldn't have been more than a few minutes ahead of us and it was huge. We started making more noise after that hoping not to sneak up on it.
A pack of mules which were quite ornery.
The trail/ road briefly went through a rattlesnake preserve?! why do they need a preserve?
We made it to the car, drove to the nearest restaurant with decent reviews and ate a ton of food. Then drove the rest of the way home. It was a good trip. I love these kinds of trips. A bit of everything, plenty of obstacles to overcome, plenty of rest and quiet. It also made me wonder how this place used to be. This trail/ valley must've been amazing in the 60's. Nice camps everywhere, solid trail, fishing, horses etc. The area obviously hasn't received much care in the last 30-40 years.
That'll do for now. More Year of Ryan posts coming.
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